Upright, canister and hand-held vacuum cleaners have long been known in the art. Many such vacuum cleaners incorporate one or more rotary agitators. These rotary agitators are equipped with cleaning structures including but not limited to beater bars, wipers, brushes and bristle tufts. As the agitators are rotated relative to the floor being cleaned, these cleaning structures function to beat dirt and debris from the nap of an underlying carpet.
Whether driven by the motor of the suction fan generator or an independent agitator drive motor, the linkage between the motor and the agitators in many vacuum cleaners is made by means of a belt. While advances in belt technology have made significant gains in service life, belts still become worn over time and require replacement. Further, in the event of an agitator jam, a vacuum cleaner is typically designed to sacrifice a relatively inexpensive belt in order to save the agitator drive motor. Thus, most vacuum cleaner operators will be faced with a belt change at least once during the operating life of a vacuum cleaner.
In many vacuum cleaners, it is difficult and time consuming to service the agitator drive belt. Often, one must remove the top or bottom of the agitator housing in order to access the belt. This can be difficult, time consuming and also very inconvenient. Further, many individuals are not mechanically inclined and the prospect of such a task leads them to take their vacuum cleaner to professional vacuum cleaner service personnel. This is often a time consuming and frustrating situation that creates an unfavorable impression upon the consumer.
In an effort to address this problem, efforts have been made in the past to simplify agitator drive belt service. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,476 to Johnson et al. discloses a vacuum cleaner incorporating an access door that is pivotally attached to the main housing by means of a hinge. When opened, the door allows access to the agitator drive belt for servicing thereof.
While very useful and effective for its intended purpose, some individuals find the open access door to be an annoyance or hindrance to belt changing. The present invention addresses this problem by providing a pivoting access door or panel that is separate and free from the main housing of the nozzle assembly. Thus, after pivotally opening the access door, it may be set to the side thereby eliminating any potential for the access panel to get in the way of the belt changing process.